Sheet-music turner.



P. G. McGOLLAM.

SHEET MUSIC TURNER.

APPLIOATION FILED JULY 25, 1911.

Ilia? I\ 67/ Patented Jan. 23, 1912.

4 SHEETS-SHEET l.

WITNESSES COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPII cu, WASHINGTON,

P. G. McCOLLAM.

SHBETMUSIG TURNER.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 25, 1011.

Patented Jan. 23, 1912.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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INVENTOR I WITNESSES I wbd h P. G. McCOLLAM. SHEET MUSIC TURNER.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 25, 1911.

WITNESSES P. G. MGCOLLAM.

SHEET MUSIC TURNER. APPLICATION FILED JULY 25, 1911.

4 SHEETSSHEET 4.

Patented Jan. 23, 1912.

INVENTOR /7 WITNESSES TIOHNE Y8 1 PATRICK G. MCCOLLAM, OF EASTON,CONNECTICUT.

SHEET-MUSIC TURNER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 23,1912.

Application filed July 25, 1911. Serial No. 640,409.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PATRICK Gr. McCon- LAM, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and residing at Easton, in the county of Fairfield and State ofConnecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sheet-Music Turners, of which the following is a specification, such as willenable those skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and usethe same.

This invention relates to sheet music turners, and the object thereof isto provide an improved device of this class which may be used as anindependent support for sheet music either in the form of separatesheets or in book form, or which may be employed in connection with apiano, or organ, or similar musical instrument, and which is preferablyadapted to be operated by means of a foot pedal; a further object beingto provide a device of the class and for the purpose specified which hasa double action whereby sheets or leaves of music may be turned in both,or either, direction by the depression or operation of a pedal or otheroperating device; and with these and other objects in view, theinvention consists in a device of the class and for the purposespecified, constructed and operated as hereinafter described andclaimed.

The invention is fully disclosed in the following specification, ofwhich the accompanying drawing forms a part, in which the separate partsof my improvement are designated by suitable reference characters ineach of the views, and in which Figure l is a front View of my improvedsheet music turner when used as a stand or independent support; Fig. 2 aside view thereof; Fig. 3 a plan view of a cross head which forms a partof the device and contains the operative mechanism, with the coverremoved and showing the parts in their normal position; Fig. l a viewsimilar to Fig. 3, but showing the operative parts set for turning threesheets or leaves of music and in the position they assume when one sheethas been turned; Fig. 5 a cross section on the line 55 of Fig. 8 and onan enlarged scale; Fig. 6 a view similar to Figs. 3 and 4, but showingthe parts in the position they assume when all three of the sheets orleaves of music have been turned and the parts are in position toreverse; Fig. 7 a view similar to Figs. 3, at and 6, but

showing the parts in the position they assume when set'to turn but onesheet or leaf of music and showing said parts in the position theyassume when said sheet or leaf has been turned; Fig. 8 a view similar toFig. 7, but showing the parts in the position they assume when ready toreverse or turn the first sheet or leaf of music back into its originalposition; Fig. 9 a partial longitudinal section on the line 99 of Fig. 3and on an enlarged scale and showing operative movements of some of theparts; Fig. 10 a. transverse section on the line 1010 of Fig. 3 wit-hparts omitted and on an enlarged scale; Fig. 11 a front view of a partof the cross head shown in Fig. 3 and looking in the direction of thearrow X and on an enlarged scale; Fig. 12 a partial longi tudinalsection on the line 1212 of Fig. 10; Fig. 13 a partiallongitudinalsection on the line 1313 of Fig. 12 and indicating different positionsof some of the operative parts, and; Fig. 14 a back view of the centralportion of the cross head and showing a bell-crank mounted thereon, saidbell-crank being also shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 4.

In the practice of my invention, as shown in the drawings, I provide asupport a comprising a tubular standard a and tripod base a of anysuitable construction and in which is pivoted a pedal lever a andmounted in the tubular standard a is a telescopic rod a on which thecross head 61" of the device is mounted and said tubular standard a isprovided at the top thereof with a set screw a whereby the said crosshead may be adjusted to any desired height, and mounted on the back ofthe cross head a and approximately centrally thereof is an operatingbell-crank a one arm of which is connected with the pedal lever a by arod a.

Mounted on the top or cover of the cross head is a music rack a the baseportion of which is formed by said cross head and secured to the top orcover of said cross head are spring fingers a which bear on the musicrack when the music is not in position, and these spring fingers aredesigned to hold the back covers or back sheets of the music or musicleaves while the inner sheets or leaves are being turned.

The cross head a is box-shaped in form and in the front top portionthereof is a longitudinal slot a and in the left hand end portionthereof is a segmental slot 0: the

under side of which is provided with a plurality of notches or recessesa as shown in Fig. -11 and which are preferably three in number.

Placed centrally in the cross head and on the bottom thereof is a plateI) provided with a central stud b and the front portion of said plate isprovided with parallel grooves 72 forming corresponding ribs 6*, andmovable longitudinally on the plate 6 is a yoke 0 having parallel arms 0and 0 and the arms 0 and 0 are provided on their inner faces with gearteeth 0 and the front arm 0 is of much greater vertical depth than theback arm 0* as clearly shown in Fig. 10.

The cross head 0 of the sliding yoke c is provided with an arm 0 whichextends to the left and with which is connected a rod 0 which extends tothe right and is provided with an outwardly directed finger c whichpasses through a slot at in the back of the cross head and with which isconnected a link 0 which is connected with the bell-crank a at the backof the cross head.

Mounted on the stud b is a sleeve cl on which is mounted another sleeve6 on which is mounted another sleeve f and the sleeve (Z is provided atits lower end with a forwardly directed segmental gear (Z and at the topthereof with a disk-shaped head (1 while the sleeve 6 is provided at thebottom thereof with a forwardly directed segmental gear 6 and the topthereof with a diskshaped head 6 while the sleeve f is provided at thebottom thereof with a forwardly directed segmental gear f and at the topthereof with a disk-shaped head f and the segmental gears (Z 6 and foperate in connection with the arm 0 of the yoke 0 and the gear f isalso adapted to operate in connection with the arm 0 of the yoke 0 inthe reverse operation as hereinafter clescribed, and said gears (Z 6 andf are differential gears, the diameters thereof in creasing from thebottom gear (Z upwardly.

Pivoted in the left hand end of the cross head is a bell crank lever gwith the shorter arm of which is connected a link 9 and with the longerarm of which are connected links 9 and g and connected with the link 9is a spring bar 9 I also provide a yoke-shaped spring it one arm ofwhich is connected with the link 9 and the other arm of which is passedaround a screw b and secured by a staple 7L3.

Rotatably mounted in a standard bearing 2' is a double crank lever i onearm of which is provided with a ringh-angled handle member i whichpasses through the slot a in the front of the cross head and the otherarm of which is provided with a backwardly directed eye 71 through whichthe link 9 passes, and secured to the bottom of the cross head is aguard 2' in connection with which the link 9 operates as hereinafterdescribed.

Pivotally connected with the gear f at f* is a sliding rod f whichextends to the left and is provided with a downwardly directed finger fand pivotally connected with the gear 6 at e is a sliding rod 6 which isdirectly under the rod and which is provided at its end with an upwardlydirected finger c and the fingers f and e of the rods f and e operate inconnection with an eye g in the end of the link g and the rods f and eare movable through guides f and e and the rod 6 rests on a block orsupport a to render its operation as hereinafter described, morepositive and secure.

In order to prevent the spring bar g from moving longitudinally in theoperation of the apparatus an anchor link j is connected therewith at jand secured to the bottom of the cross head at j and connected with thebar at 7' is a transverse shift bar j having a downwardly directedU-shaped member j through which the arm 0 of the yoke 0 passes and theforwardly directed free end j of the shift bar 7' passes through a guidej and on the side of said guide opposite the yoke a is a transversekeeper j through which the arm 0 of the yoke 0 moves longitudinally andlaterally and the arm 0 of the yoke 0 also passes through another keeperj.

The outward movement of the bell-crank g is limited by a stop pin andthe inner end of the spring bar 9 is provided with a pivoted link 70which is connected with the lower part of the sleeve (Z as shown at 70and the right hand end of the rod 0 is connected with a spiral spring 70which is connected with the cross head a at 70 and which holds said rodand the yoke c and other operative parts connected therewith in theirnormal position.

Secured in the right hand end of the cross head are three spiral springsm, n and 0 having backwardly directed spring arms m n and 0 andconnected with the spring arm m is a rod m and connected with the springarm n is a rod 12 and connected with the spring arm 0 is a rod 0 andthese rods m n and 0 are connected with the lower ends of the sleevescl, 6 and f opposite the gears (Z 6 and f as shown at m a and 0 in Figs.9. and 10.

The disk-shaped the sleeves cl, 6 and f on the stud b are provided,respectively with arms 7), p and p and said arms 7), p and p are given aquarter turn as shown so as to place them in a vertical plane, while thedisk-shaped heads (Z 6 and f of the sleeves cl, 6 and f are inhorizontal planes, and the arms 1), p and 20 are also provided at theirheads (Z and f of i free ends with clips 79 which are preferablyU-shaped in form and into which the bottom edges of the music sheets orleaves are passed.

The bottom of the arm 0 of the yoke c is provided at its front edge witha clownwarclly directed blade 1" which operates in connection with theribs and in the grooves b in the plate I), and the left hand end of thearm 0 is cut out to form a recess 7- as shown in Fig. 12.

The operation of my improved sheet music turner will be readilyunderstood from the foregoing description when taken in connection withthe accompanying drawings and the following statement thereof.

The normal position of the operative parts is shown in Fig. l, and inthis position the spring bar 9 is exerting a backward pull on the shiftbar 7' and this pull serves to keep the teeth 0 of the front arm 0 ofthe yoke c in engagement with the segmental gear F. In the operation ofthe device the musician or operator first determines the number ofsheets it will be necessary to turn to read a piece of music and for thepurpose of this description we will take two conditions, one in which itis necessary to turn but one sheet and one in which it is necessary toturn three sheets, the operation under the other condition in which twosheets are turned will be readily understood when the operation underthe two first mentioned conditions are described. lVe will now take thefirst mentioned condition and assume that the sheet music has beenplaced in position as shown in Fig. 1 with the clip 7) of the arm 70engaging the lower outer corner of the single sheet to be turned, thedouble crank lever 2' is first adjusted by means of the handle member 2'so that said handle member will rest in the left hand notch (1 or thatnotch over which is shown the numeral 1. This movement of the doublecrank lever 2' causes the eye 9 of the link 9 to engage the downwardlydirected finger f of the slide rod f as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 9.The pedal lever a is then clepressed by the foot of the musician or operator to operate the bell crank lever a which pulls the rod 0 to the leftdrawing the arm 0 and yoke 0 also to the left as clearly shown in Fig.7, and the gear f is thus given a partial turn on the stud b and byreason of its connection with the arm 72 through the sleeve 7, said armis also given a partial turn to the left. It will be understood that thesprings m, a and 0 normally exert a thrust action on the connections atm n and 0 to hold the arms 39, p and p in the position shown in Fig. 3,and when the operation just described is taking place, and during thefirst quarter turn of the segmental gear f and arm 72 the action isagainst the thrust action of the spring 0, but as the connection 0passes around to the right of the stud Z1 and beyond a dead center, theaction of the spring 0 is to throw the segmental gear f and arm 79 tothe left after the teeth a of the arm 0 have ceased to engage, asclearly shown in Fig. 7. As the segmental gear f is turned, it draws theslide bar 7' to the right by reason of its connection with the segmentalgear f at f and this operation draws the link 9 also to the right androcks the bell crank lever g on its pivot to draw the left end of thespring bar 9 forwardly through the instrumentality of the link g andthis operation places a forward thrust action on the shift bar j againstthe arm 0 of the yoke 0. During the above described movements the blade1" is moved to the left through the front groove 6 and the engagement ofthe blade r with the front rib b prevents the spring bar 9 from throwingthe arm 0 and yoke c forwardly, until the foot of the operator ormusician has been removed from the pedal lever a when the spring 76 willact to draw the bar 0 arm c and yoke c to the right, the forward thrustaction of the spring bar 9 still being maintained, and when the yoke 0has traveled to the right for a predetermined distance the blade 1,rides out of the forward groove Z2 and ceases to engage the forward ribb when the thrust action of the spring bar 9 will throw the yoke cforwardly causing the teeth 0 of the arm 0 of the yoke c to engage thesegmental gear f as clearly shown in Fig. 8. Another depression of thepedal lever a will now operate to throw the operative elements back tothe normal position as shown in Fig. 8, as will be readily understood.Then it is desired to turn three sheets of music and reverse, the handlemember 2' of the double crank lever 2' is adjusted in the slot (4 so asto cause said handle member to engage the central notch over which isshown the numeral 3, and this position of the double crank leversustains the eye 9 of the link 9 in a neutral position or in a posit-ionbetween the fingers e. and f, so that there is no engagement. When themusician or operator depresses the pedal lever a the arm 12 is thrown tothe left as shown in Fig. 4, and by reason of the backward pullingaction of the spring bar on the shift bar j the teeth 0 of the arm 0 ofthe yoke 0 will engage the gear 6 when the yoke c has been drawn to theright by the spring Another depression of the pedal lever a will turnthe gear 6 and arm 79 to the left and when the spring 76* returns theyoke c to the right again the teeth 0 of the arm 0 will engage thesegmental gear (Z and the pedal lever is then depressed to throw thesegmental gear (Z and arm ;0 to the left and in this latter operationthe link is" pivoted to the sleeve (Z is drawn forward as shown in Fig.6, and draws the right end of the spring bar 9 forwardly, and thisoperation places a forward thrust action on the shift bar j, so thatwhen the yoke 0 has again been returned to the right by the spring sothat the blade r and ribs If disengage, the yoke 0, will be forcedforwardly as shown in Fig. 6, so that the teeth of the arm 0 engage thegear f when another depression of the pedal lever (0* will cause thearms 9, p and p to be returned to their normal position as shown in Fig.3.

It will be understood that my invention is not limited to the method ofsupporting the cross head a herein shown and described, and said crosshead may be built into or connected with a piano, organ, or similarmusical instrument, and other means may be provided for operating thelever (0 and other changes in and modifications of the constructionherein shown and described may be made, within the scope of the appendedclaims, without departing from the spirit of my invention or sacrificingits advantages.

Having fully described my invention, what, I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination in a sheet music turner of a stud and a plurality ofsleeves concentrically mounted thereon, each of said sleeves beingprovided at its upper end with a turning arm and each of said sleevesbeing-provided at its lower end and on the same side thereof with asegmental gear, said gears being arranged one above another andincreasing in diameter from the bottom gear upwardly, a longitudinallyand laterally movable yoke inclosing said stud, said sleeves and saidgears and the side arms of which are provided on their inner sides withteeth adapted to operate in connection with said gears, and means foroperating said yoke and to turn said sleeves and arms.

2. The combination in a sheet music turner of a stud and a plurality ofsleeves concentrically mounted thereon, each of said sleeves beingprovided at its upper end with a turning arm and each of said sleevesbeing also providedat its lower end and on the same side thereof with asegmental gear, said gears being of different diameters, a yoke-shapeddevice inclosing said stud, sleeves and gears and the side arms of whichare provided with gear teeth on their inner sides, and means foroperating said yokeshaped device so as to turn said gears, sleeves andarms substantially as shown and described.

3. The combination of a sheet music turner of a stud, and a plurality ofsleeves concentrically mounted thereon, said sleeves being provided attheir upper ends with turning arms and at their lower ends with springarm connections adapted to hold the turning arms in a predeterminedposition, said sleeves being also provided on one side thereof withsegmental gears of different diameters, a longitudinally and laterallymovable yoke-shaped device inclosing said stud, sleeves and gears, andmeans for operating said yoke-shaped device so as to operate said gears,sleeves and arms.

4:. In a sheet music turner, a stud, a plurality of sleevesconcentrically mounted thereon and provided at their upper ends withturning arms and at their lower ends with spring arm connections adaptedto hold aid turning arms in a predetermined position, said sleeves beingalso provided on one side thereof with segmental gears of differentdiameters, a longitudinally and laterally movable yoke-shaped deviceinclosing said stud, sleeves and gears and the side arms of which areprovided on their inner sides with teeth adapted to engage said gears,means for operating said yokeshaped device, a tension device forexerting pressure on one side thereof, and a series of switches arrangedto change the direction of the operation of said tension device atpredetermined times.

5. In a sheet music turner, a stud, a plurality of sleevesconcentrically mounted thereon, said sleeves being provided at the topsthereof with turning arms and at the bottoms thereof with spring armconnections adapted to hold said turning arms in a predeterminedposition, said sleeves being also provided on one side thereof withsegmental gears of different diameters, a longitudinally and laterallymovable yoke-shaped rack device inclosing said stud, sleeves and gearsand adapted to operate in connection with said gears in either directionof its longitudinal movement, and means for operating said rack device,one side of said rack device being also provided on the bottom thereofwith a blade adapted to operate in grooves formed in a plate placedbeneath said gears to control itslateral movement.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed myname in presence of the subscribing witnesses this 22d day of July 1911.

PATRICK G. McCOLLAM.

\Vitnesses H. A. OLIPHANT, MAMIE SOLEN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G.

